


Transformers Corruption: The Last Days of Cybertron

by OverlordRaax



Series: Transformers Corruption [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Corrupted Transformers, Monsters, Multi, Shockwave is such an ass, TW: Emetophobia, Trauma, everyone has PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-08-28 10:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverlordRaax/pseuds/OverlordRaax
Summary: A sickness has overtaken Cybertron. As the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons continues to get worse as they find they are now infected with something that turns them into monsters. Both sides of the conflict have no idea how this came to be, but they now both have fight off both each other and the creatures at their doors.





	1. The Fall of Cybertron

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally inspired by the corrupted gems in Steven Universe, so I started messing with the same sort of premise working on the Transformers.
> 
> Thanks to Pink_Shoes and HiddenDirector who have both been a big help crafting this AU and listening to my ideas for this and helping to shape them.
> 
> All the designs for the Corrupted Transformers are up on my tumblr, and occasionally preview snippets for later chapters: https://overlordraax.tumblr.com/tagged/Corruption-AU

Cybertron was sick.

That much was obvious, the planet was dying a slow sickly death as the resources drained from its core. The war stretched on for millions of years until the planet itself was spluttering and dying. The energy wells choked and dried up, the cities started to cough out of existence, one by one. The war was never meant to last this long, and their race were not built to live through a war this long either. But it continued on, and as it did everything continued to die, it felt like the planet's sickness was only spreading.

Then it seemed the sickness turned on the population as well.

The first time Optimus saw it happen was with an ordinary soldier.

 

He had been going through the Autobot barracks, on the way to discuss the new battle plans with Prowl, when he had happened to spot a figure huddled in the dark. He was sitting in the corner of one of the corridors, picking a spot far away from the light, making a deliberate effort not to be noticed.

Despite that Optimus could clearly see the mech was in a state of distress. He could see in the darkness how the mechs plating was shaking, and if he turned up his audials he could hear the mechs attempts to try and quieten a set of sobs.

Optimus ignored the meeting he was supposed to attend. He found he couldn’t ignore him when he obviously needed help, so Optimus went over to speak to him.

As he got closer he saw other noticeable details about the mech. For a moment it looked like his frame had gone grey, and then Optimus realised it was because he was covered in soot and debris. Under the rubble he could see flecks of orange on the bots plating. He looked lightly armoured, he must have been a civilian frame, the bits of armour suitable for war looked like they had been hastily bolted on over his standard plating. There were attachments on his back that suggested he was a construction vehicle, probably a lifting truck, but one of the back appendages had clearly been blown off. His frame was busted and broken in, as if it had undergone severe damage. It looked as if he’d come straight from the battlefield.

The mech was still jittery and didn’t notice him approach until he was right next to him. The mechs head snapped up and he jumped back in his seat as he saw him. He tried to salute Optimus but his servo wouldn’t stop shaking.

“Oh! Prime! Sir! I didn’t see you there. Sorry, I apologise, I didn’t mean to be in such a state…” the mech veered off, trying to dust off his bent plating.

“Don’t worry about that, soldier, at ease. Are you alright?” Optimus said, sitting next to him. If anything the mech looked even more nervous than before.

“No sir! I p-promise! I’m alright! I… I’m fine.”

“What’s your name, soldier?”

“Lift, sir.”

“What battalion are you with?”

“Twenty-eighth Praxian regiment, sir.”

Optimus remembered reading that regiment on the list of causalities. He’d just glanced it in amongst all the other listings. The regiment had been right on the front lines during the last Decepticon attack. They’d been almost entirely wiped out, except for one survivor.

“Oh,” was all Optimus could think to respond with.

“I just…” Lift turned away. He looked about to say something but apparently decided he couldn’t. “Sorry, oh Primus… to act like this in front of the Prime…”

“Soldier, you can tell me what’s wrong,” Optimus said, trying to sound reassuring.

Lift looked at the floor, his arms wrapped around his frame. There was a fizzing glow in his optics. His plating wouldn’t stop rattling.

“I just… they killed everyone, I was in the mess hall with Tricktrack, been friends since I was a sparkling, and then a bolt went through his head. Then they shot all the rest before we had time to realise what was going on… I never signed up for this… I was a shopkeeper before this all started. I shouldn’t be a soldier. This war’s gone on for so long I can’t… I can’t…” He buried his head into his servos and started crying.

Optimus watched silently, seeing the mech breakdown so thoroughly, he had no idea what to do.

“There solider, it will be alright,” Optimus said. The mech only continued to cry more.

“I never wanted to be a soldier. I never thought it’d be like this. I can’t take this anymore.”

“It will be alright. We’ll defeat the Decepticons eventually.”

The mechs distress just seemed to grow. He leaned forward and continued crying. Before Optimus could say anything else he noticed something changed in the mech. His plating started to shift, changing shape and becoming more jagged. The protrusions on his back started to grow into large horn like spikes. His plating began to flare up and Optimus could see the cables underneath his plating slither and move. He purged up something thick and black. His voice became hoarse and distorted. Despite whatever was overcoming his body he huddled up even more. His plating flaring out into jagged spikes. His servos had turned into claws that kept his face hidden.

Optimus watched in horror as the change happened, he couldn’t believe what his optics were showing him.

“Soldier?”

It turned its head and shrieked at him. The mechs head had now twisted under its new uneven and jaunty helm. It bared a set of fanged dentae at him as dark streaks ran down its face.

Optimus fell back as it stood up and reared its full height. The mechs body looked like it had been stretched out, even though it seemed thinner it now towered above him. The thing screeched and lunged at him.

A barrage of laser fire knocked it back. Several bolts pierced its body and it was thrown back. It gave a howl as it fell onto the floor. Optimus sat up and watched in silence as the things body turned grey.

“Sir, are you alright?”

Optimus turned back to see Prowl and several other officers run to his side. The enforcer offered his hand and helped Optimus back onto his feet. Optimus couldn’t stop looking at the smoking husk of the mech he had just been talking to.

“Why did you fire on him?” Optimus said.

“To be frank, sir, what were we supposed to do when we see a giant monster about to attack the Prime?”

“It… he was one of us,” Optimus said.

“What? But that’s impossible,” Prowl said, looking at the greyed out carcass. “It doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“It must be some sort of secret weapon of the Decepticons,” one of the officers said.

“An experiment perhaps?” said another.

“I never thought Megatron would sink low enough to do something like this.” Optimus said, a sense of unease in his spark.

 

Then slowly, across the Autobot ranks there were reports of soldiers who would break down and then turn into monsters. As far as they could tell there was no apparent cause or explanation. There was no sign they had been poisoned or infected. Autopsies of the monsters wielded no answers.

It was believed it was a Decepticon weapon that had caused it. But then Prime watched as a trine was shot down and the last remaining seeker collapsed screaming before the transformation overtook him as well. And Prime could tell by the panicked way the other Decepticons hurried to put it down that they had just as little clue as to what was going on as them. Whatever was happening, it was happening to everyone.

 

As the war continued more mechs continued to change. Day by day more of their race succumbed and turned into monsters. Soon the creatures were running loose across Cybertron, there were too many of them now to deal with. It seemed they’d soon outnumber them. Their shrieks called out in the night, and they attacked Autobots and Decepticons alike, scattering and decimating both armies further.

And still, there was still no explanation for what was causing this corruption. It seemed clear their race was dying.

 

Megatron strode through the grounds of the captured Autobot facility. From what their spies had told them they had expected the base to be one of their fortresses, but it seemed instead to be a medical facility. The security detail had been easily disposed of and the remaining mix of medics and ill had been swiftly overpowered.

“Someone bring me the head medic.” Megatron ordered. It wasn’t long before two of his seekers brought forward a white and red femme.

“Please, there’s no need for violence. This is a hospital.” The doctor said.

“A very well hidden hospital. It seems pretty clear to me you have some secrets here. Tell me what you have here and we shall show you mercy. Our forces are always in need of medics.”

“We’re merely looking after the wounded. What else do you expect a hospital to do?”

“I know there is something else you have here, and I intend to find out what it is.”

“Lord Megatron.” The warlord turned to see his second in command walk over to him. “We have found something.”

“What is it, Starscream?”

“They’re keeping corrupted monsters here. Those disgusting creatures are being held in the cells on the lower floors.”

Megatron’s gaze focused back on the medic.

“What are you doing with these corrupteds?”

“Please, we’ve been trying to find a cure. These creatures need our help.”

Meagtron scoffed.

“They’re a plague upon Cybertron, and they need to be exterminated as soon as possible.”

The femme looked insulted.

“We don’t know what they are! Whatever this affliction is there must be some way to reverse it.”

“You are wasting your time. These creatures are already beyond reproach. The only thing we can do is make sure their corruption doesn’t spread any further.”

“Please. You don’t have to do this. We’re only trying to help.”

Megatron turned to Starscream.

“How many of the creatures are they holding?”

“About a dozen, Lord Megatron.”

“Leave only five. Select some that will be make good subjects for Shockwave. He will be able to shed the most light on how to halt this abomination further.”

“NO!” The medic shouted, struggling in the seekers grasp. “There’s no need for this! We can help each other.”

Megatron gave her one last glance.

“You and your staff can consider yourselves prisoners of the Decepticon Empire. You can continue your work halting this plague if you wish to join us. If not, your fate will not be so pleasant.” He looked to the seekers. “Take them all away.”

The medic and the other Autobots were all dragged off. Megatron breathed a sigh. Their world was gradually falling into madness. He would not stop until every last one of these creatures had been wiped off the face of Cybertron.

 

When the Decepticons had first heard about the corruption that was spreading through their ranks, they believed it was some sort of Autobot weapon their enemies were trying to use against them. But the next set of Autobot prisoners they had interrogated had said their forces had no idea as to the creatures origins either. Others were starting to believe it was a divine punishment from Primus himself. Megatron fully believed it was a plague; some pandemic that was spreading through the population.

Megatron had given those and the ones from the captured Autobot facility over to Shockwave, hoping he would be able to find something that could tell them about what was happening, and what was causing it.

Shockwave’s examinations came back with nothing.

There was no discernable reason or factor for causing the problem. It remained an enigma. Each day more mechs turned against each other, and more of them corrupted into these creatures.

It simply needed to be wiped from the face of Cybertron and then they would declare victory over this planet.


	2. Shockwave's examinations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shockwave continues examining the remains of the corrupteds the Decepticons have been bringing in, and he decides to recruit some unusual allies to help in his investigations.

Shockwave examined the latest corrupted specimen that was placed on his medical slab. He had been dissecting its cables and taking it apart bit by bit to examine how it worked. He found these creatures intriguing, at least from a purely scientific standpoint. He examined how their physiognomy was different. The corruption process made some remarkable changes, not just to their frames but their insides as well. He had originally thought that the corruption started with a malfunction in the processor, but upon further examination it seemed to originate from the spark. It seemed to mean that even if the spark was transferred over to an uncorrupted frame the process would overtake the new body anyway.

Shockwave noted all of this down as he further continued his examination. Instead of energon in their tanks he found thick black sludge, though it seemed capable of processing more types of fuel than just energon, some of these creatures were documented to eat pieces of metal and scrap, and this sludge seemed to be breaking it down and processing that into sustenance, an interesting curiosity.

Shockwave was still trying to make sense of it after the corruption process had so thoroughly mangled their interior circuits, but he was certain he would find out. Corruption seemed to affect each individual differently. There were multiple variations, even amongst the same frametypes. Even cold constructed seekers that were built identically corrupted with spectacularly different results. He felt he needed more information on the exist circumstances of _what_ had caused them to corrupt now.

The creatures also seemed to gain additional powers akin to sigma abilities when they turned. The one he was examining at the moment had spit acid in face of the mech that had tried to grab it. The raiding party had eventually had to muzzle the creature before it was brought in.

If Shockwave could figure out how these powers manifested, and thus how they could be recreated, it could grant the Decepticon army an amazing advantage.

He had not yet ascertained how it spread, and thus he was unable to tell who was at risk of turning. He could not tell whether it was a select few mechs who were carrying the infection, or whether everyone was carrying the disease and they were merely waiting for the symptoms to arise. However, since there was no obvious correlation between which mechs were affected he was starting to suspect the latter. However, he had not told Megatron of that theory yet; he did not think his lord would respond too well to that suggestion.

Of course, to accomplish this Shockwave would have to figure out the root cause of the corruption. The common occurrence from reports was that the mechs affected had experienced some sort of traumatic event or meltdown, but Shockwave did not believe that was the root cause, merely what triggered the transformation.

He was interested in seeing whether the reaction could be triggered deliberately.

 

He decided to inquire with the Decepticon interrogation team; three minibots who all worked as a unit. Their workplace was in the cells on the lowest floors of the Decepticon fortress.

He ran into their leader, Shrapnel, he was in the middle of playing a game of Fullstasis with Kickback. Shrapnel was the only one who was able to challenge Shockwave at the game, the purple, yellow and black minibot had a remarkably sharp mind.

When Shrapnel saw him he looked up from the game and went over to greet the scientist.

“Shockwave, always a delight to see you. What can I do to help?”

“I have a proposal for you, Shrapnel.” He asked Shrapnel to see if he could push a mech into such a state that they could be driven to corruption. The minibot took it as a challenge.

“A curious request, Shockwave,” Shrapnel said, in his calm clipped tone.

“I feel if anyone were capable of this, it would be you and your team.”

Shrapnel and his men were incredibly dependable. They functioned perfectly as a unit, and always remained selflessly dedicated to the Decepticon cause.

“I will do what we can.” Shrapnel said. “I have the feeling Bombshell will be able to come up with some results.”

Shockwave’s optic glowed.

“Thank you for your help.”

“Never a problem, Shockwave.”

Bombshell was a mnemosurgeon with an incredible skill in working his way into his subjects mind, Shockwave was sure that the minibot tank could perform the task.

Shockwave, meanwhile, carried on with his own experiments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fullstasis is apparently the Transformer equivalent of chess, thanks to TFwiki for helping me find that one out.
> 
> So yes, the Insecticons are currently a little different from how we usually see them. However, we will see them closer to the familiar little bugs we know and love in the future.
> 
> I'll probably post some designs of what their current forms look like on my tumblr at some point. I've trying to decide on what their altmodes are. Shrapnel is potentially an electric chair like DJD Kaon, or I like of them all being a mini combiner and joining together to form the carriages of a train like in the Hearts of Steel artwork.
> 
> Also I am going to try and post these more regularly, so the next chapter will be up next Friday, and I'm going to keep trying to have a chapter up by a Friday: Next time will be a guest appearance of the Dinobots


	3. Grimlock and the Dynobots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> General Grimlock, one of the most ferocious leaders of the entire Autobot army, decides to lead a raid against Shockwave’s fortress, where stories of horrific experiments have been taking place. What will they find when they arrive?

"Onward Autobots! I, Grimlock shall lead us to victory!"

 General Grimlock was one of the most feared and renowned Autobots leaders in their entire army. He led a team of specialist war frames, all of them stood taller than every other mech around, towering over them, even Optimus Prime himself. They had a reputation for being incredibly fierce and destructive when they faced their enemies.

Currently they were laying siege to Shockwave's fortress. It had become one the most heavily fortified of the Decepticon strongholds, and where most prisoners were sent when they had been captured. There were horrific stories of what happened to the mechs that were sent there, previously hushed rumours which had been confirmed by an escaped prisoner who told of the experiments on prisoners Shockwave was conducting. Grimlock had blown into a rage, demanding with Optimus that they bombard the fortress and show Shockwave precisely that the Autobots would not be treated this way. But Optimus had refused, claiming they did not have the power or resources to rescue the survivors. So Grimlock had decided then that he would take matters into his own hands.

Optimus had expressly forbidden anyone from trying to attack the fortress when their resources continued to dwindle so drastically, and the Decepticons were pushing them so far back. But Grimlock knew that if they could take down such an important place of Decepticon operations, then they would be able to show the Decepticons that the Autobots were still a force to be reckoned with.

They had stormed their way in, blowing a hole in the wall and continuing to push through the fortresses guards. Currently said guards were hidden behind a barricade, firing at them from cover. The cowards. Grimlock always preferred hand to hand combat, it was far more honourable, and much more satisfying.

"We shall have to smash through this barricade and show these pitiful Decepticons what we are made of." He turned to Slug. "Slug, you know what to do."

The bulldozer nodded and quickly transformed. The lazers simply pinged off his armour and he tore their defences all to pieces.

Sludge and Snarl both charged forward in their vehicle modes. The crane tearing more of their fortifications to pieces and the armoured vehicle drove through smashing into the other Decepticons. And Swoop, the best seeker in the Autobot army, easily sailed through the corridors and fired down on them. Grimlock too, charged forward brandishing his sword, ready for a challenge.

The Decepticons stood swiftly defeated and had lowered the blast shields to try and stop them getting any further. However, when Grimlock surveyed the destruction they had wrought, he knew that nothing would stop them.

"My Dynobots! We shall be flying the Autobot flag above this place today."

 

Shockwave had been watching everything unfold on the view monitors. Watching as his men were slowly pushed back. He had not spoken a word for the whole time, he merely watched.

The door opened and a mech scurried in, his field projecting tension onto the room.

"Commander Shockwave, the Dynobots have been pushing through the facility. We can't hold them."

"Yes. I am well aware of that." Shockwave said calmly.

The mech paused, though his plating still rattled.

"Commander, you knew?"

"I have been watching the progress carefully. I would have expected no less from General Grimlock."

The officer looked worried.

"What should we do, Commander?"

"I do not think we would be able to stop Grimlock's forces even if we tried." Shockwave said. "He has come here for the other captured Autobots, clearly. Very well, he shall get to see them."

The mech gulped, still completely jittery. Shockwave's solitary eye looked him up and down.

"I would try to remain calm, lieutenant," Shockwave told the mech calmly. "Don't forget, a calm mind is the best thing to help stave off corruption."

 

The Decepticons were continuing to fall back the more the Dynobots pushed forward. Soon they would have taken the whole fortress. Grimlock was still looking forward to putting his fist in Shockwave's face. But still so far they had seen no sign of the prisoners. As the Dynobots continued tearing apart the next set of guards Grimlock strode forward.

The next Decepticon was a grounder, who cowered in terror before Grimlock picked him up by the head. His huge fist easily encompassing the soldiers entire head. Grimlock laughed.

"Hmph, I could crush your entire head with one single squeeze."

The Decepticon instantly started squirming.

"Please! Please don't! Let me go!"

"I, Grimlock, shall consider it if you tell us where the prison cells are located."

All the Dynobots gathered round, watching the struggling guard.

"Yes! Yes! I'll tell you! I can get you there! Please just don't kill me!"

Grimlock dropped the guard, who fell to the floor with a clang.

"Then show us the way."

 

The guards access allowed them to reach one of the lower floors of the facility. The Dynobots stepped off the platform when it opened and looked around, Grimlock felt a grand sense of triumph as they had finally found the Autobot prisoners.

But as he saw the cells it quickly turned to horror. The cells were no longer filled with mechs, but entirely with mangled corrupted creatures. Each of them distorted and snarling as the Dynobots walked past. They kept trying to find one other Autobot who hadn't been turned, but it seemed they all had transformed.

Grimlock grabbed the guard by the neck and lifted him up again.

"Where are the Autobot prisoners?"

"These are the prisoners!" The guard choked.

"Which ones haven't been corrupted?"

"There aren't any left." The mech spoke faster as Grimlock's hold around his neck increased. "Shockwave experimented on all of them! He was trying to replicate the process!"

Grimlock didn't have words to express the anger he felt, he threw the Decepticon guard against the wall. The mechs armour almost crumbling from the impact.

"That slagger!" Grimlock shouted, he looked up, certain Shockwave was watching somewhere from within the base, "You'll pay for what you've done, Shockwave!"

Then Shockwave's voice came from the sound system.

"We shall see, General, for now I am sure you are delighted to see all of your efforts have been for nothing."

"You'll see! I will tear off your head and decorate this palace with your frame this very day."

"What a bold claim to make. You will have to prove that first."

"Just because I am not a coward like you."

"There is a fine line between bravery and idiocy, General, and you are one for stepping over it as wantonly as possible."

"We shall see who triumphs by the end of this day."

"Your problem has always been hubris, General. You cannot even see the situation you are in this very moment. I would have retreated when I had the chance. It is too late for that now, but you can at least make a good contribution to my works. I can see how well my experiments have gone."

There was a blaze of klaxons and the doors to the lift all locked down. Meanwhile, all the cells energy fields turned off and soon the creatures were shambling out of their cells. Their demented glowing optics all turned to the Dynobots and then there was a terrible cacophony of calls and shouts and the creatures charged on them.

 

Shockwave watched the view screen, once again saying nothing, though he watched the events unfold in silent contemplation. The guard was quickly torn to pieces by the monsters. The Decepticons all watching the vid screen started to cheer as the Dynobots were overwhelmed by the creatures.

His artificial attempts to replicate corruption had been met with mixed results. He was still uncertain of how to properly start it, and every mech had different breaking points. However, he still wondered whether they could create an army of drones through corrupted bots alone.

Most of the experiments had been implanted with special new devices created by Bombshell called Cerebro Shells. They were meant to control the corrupteds, now would be the perfect time to see if they could be put to use on the battlefield.

The results were somewhat disappointing. The shells worked for less than a breem before most of them stopped working; the creatures resisted and then and returned to their mindless ways again. Clearly, they still needed refining.

Still, that did not mean that the Dynobots were not sufficiently overwhelmed. Even Grimlock's men struggled to face against the creatures that viciously tried to tear them apart. The creatures had managed to knock down Snarl and Sludge, and Swoop was felled after another aerial tore at his wings.

"So now, what do we do, sir?" One of Shockwave's lieutenants asked.

"Send in a strike team to subdue the corrupteds and take in the Dynobots." Shockwave said, "They are about to become my latest test subjects. I'm sure they will prove to be very interesting."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Optimus finds out what has happened to the Dynobots.
> 
> All chapters from now will be posted weekly on a Friday (unless I get a bundle of these finished and then it could go to 2 chapters a week, but I want to have a more regular schedule for these)
> 
> P.S. Shockwave pronounces 'lieutenant' as 'leftenant' cos he's British and also just cos I say so.


	4. The Dynobots return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Optimus Prime waits to hear news of the Dynobots after their ill-fated raid, finally it seems there is some word from them.

Optimus had been waiting to hear news from General Grimlock. His entire squad had gone missing for the past few cycles, and now Optimus was getting worried. The two of them had not left off on good terms the last time they had spoken. Optimus worried that Grimlock really had gone to Shockwave's fortress. He could only hope they hadn't.

He'd been struggling enough with the Autobots having had to retreat even further back again. Their last base had been destroyed in the last Decepticon raid, and they were now hastily converting an underground bunker into their new base of operations. That had been all they had been doing the past few years. The Decepticons kept slowly pushing them further back, and they had no option but to continue retreating. Each time they lost more ground, and more resources. It soon seemed that everything would run out, and all they could do was run. More men were overcome by corruption as things became more bleak and lost.

He reached his hand over to where the Matrix hummed. It felt like a horrible weight in his chest. Every day he woke up feeling a pang of dread in his spark, but the worry was no longer just from his spark, but he swore he could feel it coming from the Matrix as well. It too could feel the terrible affliction that was slowly killing their race.

If Optimus admitted to himself, they were just delaying the inevitable; it was only a matter of time before the Decepticons overwhelmed them and destroyed them. But he couldn't possibly admit that to his men. He could see it in their optics, they looked up at him with hope that he would see them through this, and lead them to victory. After all, he was the Matrix Bearer, the one chosen by Primus, the saviour of their race.

He didn't think he could take those faces staring at him every day. But he forced himself each day to get up and assure his men they could make it through this, even though he no longer believed it was even possible.

In reality, it seemed the only outcome would be for the Decepticons to destroy them, or for them to all be taken as prisoners. And if the rumours coming from Shockwave's fortress were true, they'd be better off deactivated than as prisoners.

The only other option seemed to be to run. To leave Cybertron for some other planet that was not swarming with monsters. But it felt like they couldn't abandon their home, like so many others had done at the start of the great war. If not, it felt like all of their fighting would be for nothing. He had to keep going, for all the ones they'd lost.

"Prime. We've finally found General Grimlock," Jazz said as he stepped into Prime's office. Optimus was snapped out of his reverie as he heard the news.

"What? Where is he?"

"We spotted his signal, he's just heading back to the base now."

"Good. I'll have to have a word with him." Optimus wanted to confront him about disobeying his orders. The General had a habit of running off doing things by himself, and after the panic his teams disappearance had caused Optimus was going to have to make sure this didn't happen again.

He strode forward, past all the Autobots standing guard at the bases entrance. As they saw him approached they started activating the gears that opened the huge blast doors that acted as the entrance. Optimus strode out, not seeing the Dynobots anywhere.

"Where are they?" He asked.

"They're just a few clicks away." Jazz said, looking at a scanner. "Should be within visual range in a few moments."

Then in the distance Optimus could hear the loud thundering footsteps of Grimlock approaching. Optimus stepped forward.

"Grimlock! I would have words with you!" Optimus shouted. The footsteps still got closer. Then Optimus paused and froze when he saw the figure that appeared.

A huge hulking monster about Grimlocks size stepped out of the shadows. The signs of corruption all over the former generals frame. It looked down at him, baring its fangs at him before it gave a terrifying roar.

All the other Dynobots stepped out of the shadows, and everyone could see they were in the same state. The Autobots stood completely gawping for a moment. Then the creatures roared together and charged towards the Autobots.

Optimus and the others scrambled to get their weapons together. Grimlock charged head first into Optimus, and Prime grabbed the monsters jaw as it tried to snap at him. The monster pushed him back, he dug his pedes into the ground to and the ground crunched below them as it still forced him back. Optimus struggled as the Dynobot kept trying to snap him in his jaws.

"Don't fire on Prime!" He heard Prowl's voice shout. Jazz's shout came a moment later.

"Someone get these monsters under control!"

There was a flurry of laser fire as they all tried to shoot down the corrupted Dynobots, who barrelled and charged into them.

As much as Optimus tried to push off Grimlock the creatures jaws kept getting closer. Then it opened its mouth wide and Optimus could see flames building up.

Suddenly he heard Wheeljack shout.

"Everyone! Switch off your optics now!" Then there was a blinding flashing light. Optimus managed to switch off his optics just in time, but the Dynobots were blinded by the bright swirling colours and patterns coming from Wheeljacks device. There were mesmerised, and it gave enough time for the Autobots to grab the stun guns and knock them all out.

Each of the creatures toppled over with a heavy thud.

After they were subdued the Autobots all looked around at the unconscious Dynobots. Everyone had a look of shock on their faceplates.

"Primus, that was the Dynobots..." One of the men said. "Even they've turned."

"How are we going to fight the Decepticons without them?"

"The next time they attack they'll wipe out all of us!"

"Primus, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to die!"

Optimus Prime turned to face them.

"Autobots! Remain calm!"  He looked around to his men, noticing the fear in their optics. "I know this is quite a shock, but we will find a way to overcome this. I promise."

He finished his speech but it was clear no one believed him.

"For now, we need to get the Dynobots into stasis. I need a team on the double."

The Autobots awkwardly scrambled to try and get the Dynobots moved. Hoist and another construction crane were the first to move. Optimus went over to Jazz and Wheeljack. The scientist looked unusually perturbed as he stared down at the Autobots.

"Thank you for your help Wheeljack." Optimus said.

"I just... I knew these guys. I was part of their unit once. They were good mechs."

"I'm sure we'll eventually find a cure for this."

"Yeah... I guess so."

Optimus only looked on concerned as Wheeljack continued staring at their former comrades. Optimus tried to think of something uplifting to say. But words failed him, and he simply went back inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to try and make it so there is a fic chapter posted every Wednesday and Saturday, so the next chapter will be up on Saturday.
> 
> Next time: a mini chapter featuring Bumblebee.


	5. Interlude: Bumblebee's Patrol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bumblebee runs into something unexpected during a supply run.

Bumblebee scouted ahead of the supply party, checking to see the way was clear. Luckily, the Decepticons hadn’t spotted them at all during this raid. It looked like it’d all be clear sailing from here.

The Autobot convoy sped through the winding roadways of lower Iacon, bringing a supply of energon back with them. Huffer was towing a trailer full of fuel, with Brawn and Windcharger following not too far behind. Bumblebee had been lucky managing not to run into any other mechs so far.

“Looks like it’ll be a peaceful night getting back home tonight, guys.” Bumblebee said.

“Don’t say that,” Huffer complained, “Now you've said it something will definitely go wrong.”

“Awh, relax guys. It’ll be fine.” Bumblebee said, "I'll go ahead and check the exit is clear."

He sped ahead of them in car mode. These tunnels were rarely used, and they were often abandoned. The minibots had used them during the golden age. They knew the tunnels like the back of their hand and they were too small to accommodate normal sized mechs, so they were perfect for supply runs and quick getaways for the minibots.

As Bumblebee exited the tunnel entrance he transformed, performing a quick perimeter. For the most part it seemed clear. There were the signs that corrupteds had been here recently. Bits of metal scrapped with claw marks and looked as though they'd been chewed or eaten, but it seemed for now they had moved on to find other sources of food.

He looked around, and then he spotted some movement from beyond a pile of rubble.

[I think I may have spotted something.] Bumblebee said. Just in case, he drew his weapon, readying the gun.

He heard some noise coming from the shadows, and got ready to fire when he saw a set of blue optics stare out at him.

Bumblebee stiffened as he saw the creature skulk closer. It was jabbering and making noises in what sounded like some sort of horrific demonic speech. Bumblebee was prepared to fire the moment it came into the light.

[Got a corrupted. Seems to be on its own. I'll cover you so you can get out.]

Then he paused when he saw who it was, a grounder with a metallic grey colour scheme that shined blue in the light. Someone Bumblebee had known for quite a long time.

“No…” He whispered. It couldn’t be. “Bluestreak?”

The creature turned to him and growled, there was no recognition in its face. Bumblebee had been joking with him in the mess hall just the other week. Bluestreak had always managed to joke and find something funny in every situation. He was someone who managed to cheer up the men no matter what. The kind of person you never thought would ever corrupt or have something wrong with him. No one had figured out that the destruction of his home was still weighing so heavily on his mind.

Bluestreak had never spoken of it, it was just a known fact not to bring up Praxus around him. It was better just to ignore the problem and pretend it had never existed, but it apparently had been eating away at him this whole time.

Since hearing he'd corrupted Bumblebee had spent all this time wishing he had just talked to Bluestreak more. If he'd just known something was wrong with him, maybe they could have prevented this from happening. Bumblebee had just returned home from a raid one day to hear that Bluestreak was now one of the names added to the list of comrades who had fallen to corruption, and had disappeared off somewhere in the ruins of Cybertron.

Bumblebee knew he should fire, but as the creature got closer towards him, he found himself unable to pull the trigger.

The creature lurched forward and Bumblebee stumbled back, his first shot going wild as it leaped on top of him. The creature had him pinned down and Bumblebee struggled to stop its claws from tearing at him.

[Bumblebee to supply party. I'm pinned down!]

[We'll be there in a second to help you out.] Brawn said.

[I knew something would go wrong.] Huffer said.

Bumblebee went back to struggling to get this things gnashing teeth out of the way.

"Bluestreak! It's me! Bumblebee! Don't you recognise me?"

The creature just kept snapping at him, when suddenly it was punched in the face and sent flying away from him. Bumblebee was suddenly roughly pulled onto his feet by Brawn.

"On your feet. We gotta make sure we get these supplies home."

Bumblebee steadied himself as the creature got ready to attack again. It leaped torwards them and he didn't have time to ready his weapon. Then Windcharger appeared and hurled a set of metal shards at the creature with his magnetism powers.

"Quickly! Let's move!" Windcharger shouted, and they all hastily transformed and headed out. The bots flanking Huffer on all sides. They sped away as they could, still hearing the sound of the corrupted creature behind them.

"What are we going to do? He'll be able to catch us up in no time." Huffer said.

"Windcharger and I can take that thing on," Brawn said, "Show that thing what we're made of."

"That's Bluestreak we're talking about." Bumblebee said.

"Not anymore it isn't."

Bumblebee could sense it catching up. He tried to think of what would be best to do. Taking on a corrupted was likely to end with at least one of them being severely injured. Corrupteds never gave up without a fight. There had to be another way to stop that creature.

As they continued speeding down the tunnel Bumblebee transformed and hastily grabbed one of the energon cubes off the convoy. He then threw it towards the monster.

It paused in its chase before it grabbed the cube its mouth and hungrily ate it up. It completely forgot about the minibots as it stared tearing the cube to pieces. So Bumblebee hastily transformed again and sped back to the base.

"You gave a monster one of our energon cubes, and we're low on fuel as it is." Huffer huffed.

"It's still Bluestreak. He probably still needs to eat as well." Bumblebee said.

"Shame, I was itching to take on one of those things." Brawn said.

"Let's just get back to base in one piece." Windcharger said.

No one made the comment that losing a single energon cube was currently the least disruptive any of the supply runs had when they had run into a corrupted.

 

They made it back to Autobot headquarters in no time at all. The huge blast doors locking back in place behind them once they were inside. After they'd been scanned and it was proven they weren't going to immediately corrupt they were let in. Some of the other bots came to unload the shipment.

Bumblebee transformed and headed to his quarters. It was good to be home.

Though 'home' was a relative term to describe their makeshift base, which had been hastily converted from an abandoned bunker. Currently it was underground and hidden, and that was the main source of comfort.

The Autobots had been forced to make this their main base after the last major Decepticon attack. It was originally supposed to be temporary, but now they'd run out of places to go it had been decided they would just stay here. Even though it was too small to hold all of their troops in it. To make more space they’d gradually started digging down into the ground, carving a set of tunnels in amongst the solid metal of the planets surface.

The whole place had a very ramshackle feel to it. There were wires and cables trailing across the floor, hooked up to a generator Wheeljack had managed to cobble together (and it had only blown out about three times so far). The tunnels were dimly lit, with only a few lights bolted onto the walls to help guide the way. There were sometimes long stretches were it was necessary to navigate the dark using only your biolights before you were able to see anything again. Unfortunately, their dwindling energy resources meant they wouldn’t be able to put up any more lights for the moment, so it wasn't uncommon to hear a crash and a litany of curses coming from somewhere in the dark. The doors were too small to get through, with everyone having to duck each time they entered a room, though naturally for minibots like him it wasn’t a problem.

No one really called it home. It was more commonly dubbed the Warren. And with the messy maze of tunnels it felt appropriate. Bumblebee started heading in the vague direction of the hollowed out space which he called his room. It only contained a few random belongings and some recharge berths. He shared the space with about four other minibots. Who were normally quite rowdy and all made too much noise but right now Bumblebee felt he’d recharge through anything the moment he got to sit down.

He tried not to think of Bluestreak, still feeling quite shaken about having seen a former friend in such a state. He'd seen many turn but never one who had been that close to him. It always seemed to be someone else from a very different regiment  that he'd never heard of.

He normally greeted his fellow Autobots with smile when he returned from a supply raid, but today everyone seemed nervous or on edge. The best he got was a quick nod from one other grounder. Bumblebee sighed. Hope was fading, it was obvious for anybody to see, but nobody wanted to say it.

No one was sure what they were going to do anymore. Even with the weapons they'd stockpiled it didn't feel like they'd be able to actually push back against the Decepticon forces. Bumblebee did his best to try and keep up morale with the others, especially after Bluestreak had gone, but it was a job that got harder every day.

“Psst! Hey! Bumblebee.”

Bumblebee stopped and looked around at where the voice was coming from. After spinning around in a circle he saw Cliffjumper poking his head out from round the corner. He kept glancing around as if he was suspicious of being seen. Finally, he waved Bumblebee over.

“Come here.” And then he disappeared before Bumblebee had the chance to ask where he was going. He followed Cliffjumper down one of the darkly corridors, tracing him until they were incomplete darkness.

“Cliffjumper? Where are we going?” he asked but got no response.

Eventually Cliffjumper stopped in a random corridor and there was a clang as he seemed to removed a panel from the wall, and Bumblebee saw some sort of hidden entrance.

“Come on, get in.” Cliffjumper said. Bumblebee did as he was told, stepping into the pitch black space. He started to question why he’d followed Cliffjumper’s instructions when Cliffjumper headed in, replacing the panel on the wall and only then did the red minibot turn on a little lamp he’d brought with him. Bumblebee found the space was a cramped circular room with only a few empty ammo boxes apparently acting as some chairs. It was only just big enough for him to stand up in, his horns scraped across the ceiling.

“Take a seat,” Cliffjumper said. Bumblebee took a place on the box of grenades.

“So, Cliff… what exactly is this?” Bumblebee said, gesturing around the room.

“It’s the minibot room. Just for bots like us. It’s a place where we can all talk without any of the other big bots getting in our way.”

“I see,” Bumblebee said, even though he didn’t. “Exactly which bots don’t we want getting in our way?”

“The one who’s infecting all us with this corruption stuff,” Cliffjumper said, his face in a serious frown.

“What?” Bumblebee asked.

“I know how the corruption stuff is spreading. I got it all figured out. It’s the Decepticons, obviously. It’s a virus they made that turns you. They got a spy somewhere in our base who goes around injecting people with it so they turn.”

“Cliff, that doesn’t make any sense. There hasn’t been any co-ordination to who’s affected. If it was a spy they wouldn’t have bothered turning us randomly, they would have just gone straight for Prime and the command staff.”

“Aha! That’s what they want you to think! It’s all part of their plan, they’re infecting bots to make it look like it’s random. So they can make us freak out and get all scared. Then once we’re all confused, no one’ll see it when they turn the whole command staff at once.”

“Right. Sure.” Bumblebee said through gritted dentae.

“You’ll see! It is! There’s a spy somewhere here! I’ve been secretly trying to figure out who it is. I reckon it’s one of the former civvies. They’re all soft sparks and they all want to go back to how things were before the war. They’d sell us all out to the Cons if it meant they had a nice fancy mansion they can retire to already.”

“Cliffjumper. That’s ridiculous. No one is a traitor.”

“There’s a spy here and they’re the ones behind all this! I’m telling you! We gotta watch out for each other now cos there’s no telling who the traitor could be.”

“Did you tell Prowl any of these suspicions?” Bumblebee raised an optic ridge. Cliffjumper suddenly became fidgety.

“Well, yes, and he maybe said it was completely ridiculous as well, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a spy turning people and just waiting to gun for Prime.”

Bumblebee stood up, he headed for the makeshift door. Cliffjumper huffed.

“And where are you going?”

“I’m heading out of here. See you later Cliff.”

And Bumblebee continued towards that recharge berth, feeling he needed it more than ever. He now just felt more certain this war was going to be the end of them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Wednesday: Optimus makes an important decision regarding the fate of the Autobots.
> 
> I wasn't going to have Bluestreak get corrupted. I actually intended him to make it to Earth, but HiddenDirector reminded me how he has canon ptsd issues and that did put him on the list of people would be likely to corrupt. So we had this. I'm sorry Bluestreak, I do actually love you.


	6. Optimus's Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Optimus calls a meeting of his generals to decide what to do as the war continues to turn against the Autobots

Things only continued to get worse.

Over the past few vorns the war had only proceeded to get worse and worse for the Autobots. They had been losing ground against the Decepticons, and the corruption that had infected them only continued to spread. His scientists and medics had been working round the clock to figure out what was going on, or how it had spread, and yet they had not made a single bit of progress. There was no way of telling who could turn, and when, but more of their soldiers would succumb every day.

The Autobots did what they could, trying to see if they could figure out a cure for them, but with their resources so stretched all they could do was put the creatures into stasis. Whereas the Decepticons seemed to regard it as a mercy killing to put these twisted creatures who clearly had no hope of revival.

And even though the Decepticons were losing their men also, Megatron continued to decimate their forces and got closer to wiping them out. Their forces were scattered to a several remote locations on Cybertron. It gave them no chance to regroup and strike back, and energy was depleting every day. It was slowly becoming a war of attrition it was clear neither side was going to win. All they could do was keep trying to fight until they starved.

Elita-One’s forces were now cut off from the main Autobot stronghold, and Ultra Magnus’s unit were losing ground. They had been separated from Kup and his Wrecker unit, who up until that point had seemingly been the only group making any sort of dent against the Decepticons. And each day Optimus had had to go out and say something to inspire in his troops to keep fighting. Less and less of them seemed to believe it, and it became more common to hear of ground troops who collapsed from the strain and fell to corruption.

When Optimus was alone he admitted it was hopeless.

Now he stood infront of the viewscreen, he sighed before he opened the comm link to all the remaining Autobot generals, each responding from their various bases and locations.

“Autobots, I have called this meeting for a very important reason,” he began heavily. “Things have been gradually getting worse for us. We’ve been losing more people, this planets resources have nearly run dry. The Decepticons outnumber us ten to one. I don’t think…”

He paused as the worries he had been thinking over for the past few orns finally manifested into words.

“I don’t think we will be able to win the war. It seems only a matter of time before the Decepticons will wipe us out, or we’ll become corrupted like the others. I think we might have to abandon Cybertron.”

There was a pause from all his other generals. Each of them silent and staring at him.

“Are you serious, Optimus?” Ultra Magnus said.

“You can't be serious about quitting, Prime," Kup said, looking as disgruntled as ever, "My Wreckers will never give up without a fight."

“Optimus might have a point,” Elita-One said. “My femmes are stretched for resources. We only have a third of our units left after the last raid. We have nothing to defend ourselves with. And what stuff we do have, we have to use to fight off these monsters as well. We can barely hold them off, let alone the Decepticons if they tried to attack again.”

Ultra Magnus chimed in.

“I feel even if we could regroup we wouldn't be able to actually defeat the Decepticons. Ever since we lost Grimlock and the Dynobots we have mostly been keeping them at bay as opposed to actually making any sort of strategic breakthrough. A quarter of our forces corrupted in the last orn. The more the panic spreads the more of them tend to change. We don’t know what to do.”

Optimus sighed before he spoke.

“The Decepticons have already won, whether we want to admit it or not.”

A heavy silence fell across the comm channel.

“I think we only have one option. We shall declare defeat against the Decepticons, and leave Cybertron.” He said.

There was another stunned silence before the entire channel burst into angered shouts.

"You can't be serious Prime!"

"After everything we've fought for!"

Optimus silenced them.

“Please, it is the only option. We are facing extinction and Cybertron is overrun with monsters. It would be better for us to leave and start a new life somewhere else than it would be to continue fighting for what we have now. It is the only option we might have left.”

The generals all turned to silent contemplation.

“If the problem with the corruption is something in Cybertron’s atmosphere then maybe whatever is afflicting us might not affect us on other planets. We might be free of the corruption if we went off-world." Optimus continued. “I have had several of our scientists look into new possible planets we could settle on. There are already several promising ones, we just need to prepare for long term space travel.”

Optimus continued.

“We are going to start construction on a ship that can house as many of us as possible. We will try to make the launch date exactly three orns from now. I want all Autobot forces to get to our base by that time so we can all be on board."

The silence continued as everyone took the words in. Finally one of them spoke.

“I’m with you, Optimus.” Elita said.

“I am too,” Ultra Magnus said. “It will be hard to let go of our home, but we have no choice.”

“Well, I guess I've got to go too,” Kup grunted.

Elita-One nodded.

“We’re behind you, Optimus. The Decepticons can have the planet. Let them deal with the monsters.”

“Thank you, my Autobots. We will give you details of when we are ready to launch. For now we have to keep up the fight against the Decepticons. We will send more details soon over the normal encrypted channels. Over and out.”

The monitor switched off and Optimus sighed.

That was it. The decision had been made. There wasn’t anything they could do now. They just had to prepare to leave their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday: The preparations for the ship begin.


	7. Preparing the Ark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Autobots all get ready to leave Cybertron, meanwhile the Decepticons grow suspicious about their odd activities.

The construction of the ship began as quickly as possible. Optimus put his top scientists and engineers on it. They had all gotten to work putting everything together. He wanted it to be big enough for every Autobot to be taken in one huge go. All of them would make it off Cybertron together, along with enough resources to start their new life.

The ship itself was to be manned by a skeleton crew, with the rest of the accompanying placed into stasis in order to conserve energy. Once they had found a new place and settled, they would be revived. The ship was going to be called the Ark, and it would take them to a new world, where finally they would be free of the Decepticons. And hopefully this plague as well.

He had been going over plans and deciding exactly who would be in stasis and who wouldn't. He had mostly chosen his main command staff, and soldiers he knew could defend the ship if it were to come under attack. Along with a medic (Ratchet was most likely) in case of emergencies, and an engineer (most likely Wheeljack, since even though his inventions could be odd, no one could jury-rig a solution in a catastrophe like he could).

The Dynobots were loaded up into stasis, Wheeljack had insisted they take them along, hoping that when they reached their new home they would be able to figure out some sort of cure. There was also the young gestalt they had recently acquired, the Aerialbots. They were all still quite young, unsuited for war but necessary due to their abilities as combiners. Cosmos would be useful for scouting ahead to find potential planets and places to stay, but the minibot took up a lot of fuel, so he would be in stasis until they had already made a start on their trip.

Now it was simply a matter of waiting until all the other Autobots arrived.

The co-ordinates for the meeting point had been given, the only problem was how many of them were now currently scattered across Cybertron. Many of them were far behind enemy lines and were currently making the rather dangerous trek back to Autobot territory. But all they could do was wait.

 

Megatron looked over the plans. The past few orns the Autobots had been acting oddly. The Decepticons had them on the run after their most recent defeats. With how scattered their forces were it was easy to pick off individual Autobot strongholds. But more and more it seemed the Autobots had been happy to retreat, scurrying away rather than standing their ground.

The last base they tried to raid had been abandoned. Not even that, stripped of everything of use. The question was where they were running to.

Megatron had ordered any Autobots that were captured to be taken straight to his interrogation team. He knew something was going on and he needed to find out what it was.

 

Within the next orn the list of who would man the Ark and would be put into stasis was published. The Autobot science team all looked through it. Perceptor gave a small sigh.

"It seems I won't be with you for the journey." he said.

"Hey, don't worry Perce," Wheeljack said. "You know they're keeping it as tight as possible. Ratch and I are the only two scientists on the list for the whole thing. We all know it's the best way to conserve energy."

"I do suppose so." Perceptor said. He knew it was logical, Wheeljack and Ratchet would keep the ship running smoothly. Besides, in stasis it would hopefully feel he would just take a quick nap and then wake up in some fantastic new world, ready to rebuild. Still, there was just this vague underlying terror that he would go into stasis and never wake up. Anything could happen while his body was completely immobile. He tried not to let the thought panic him.

Wheeljack nudged him in the shoulder.

"Besides, if we run into something interesting like temporarily stopping on some fancy new unexplored planet, I'll be sure to wake you up to ask for your scientific expertise."

Perceptor smiled, allowing a little chuckle.

"Why, thank you very much. It'd be most appreciated."

 

Soundwave had been put on charge of monitoring Decepticons for potential corruption. With his telepathic powers it was certainly the easiest way to check of which soldiers were under the most potential to fall to the affliction.

Soundwave had noticed some mechs even seemed to deliberately try and avoid him, as if they were desperate to hide potential corruption lurking just underneath their frames. Soundwave usually reported them, and it usually turned out to be the case.

But things had now settled into a routine, and Soundwave felt himself very certain he knew who was likely to turn and who wouldn't. There was only one mech he was currently concerned with, and Soundwave was doing his best to avoid him at the moment.

Megatron stepped in front him. Soundwave halted and stood to attention. Pent up anger was burning off of Megatron's field. The past few cycles Soundwave had seen mechs try to step away from Megatron, as if he was radiating the feelings so strongly they would get burnt standing too close to him for too long.

"Soundwave, I have been looking for you." Megatron said. Soundwave was the only one who hadn't cowered away from that gaze this past orn.

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

"Has there been any news?"

"Cassetticons continue missions. Current update: nothing to report." Soundwave said. The anger just seethed more obviously from Megatron's frame. The Cassetticons had all been sent on various missions to spy on the Autobots and try to find out what they were up to. But so far they had always come back empty handed.

"I want to know what Optimus Prime and his Autobots are up to _now_ , Soundwave. I want an update as soon as there is anything."

"Soundwave: will inform Megatron immediately upon new updates."

"See that you do. The Autobots are scurrying like glitchrats. They're running somewhere but we need to find where. We can almost taste victory but no one can find anything. I need updates before they can accomplish whatever glitched plans they have."

"Understood Lord Megatron."

After that Megatron stormed off, Soundwave watched him leave, feeling how strongly Megatron's anger lingered even after he had left. When Soundwave turned around he saw a figure hiding by one of the corridors.

"My, my, Lord Megatron looks to be in quite a bad mood today," Starscream said, sneeking out of whatever hiding place he had been lurking in.

Soundwave eyed Starscream suspiciously.

"Starscream: planning something?"

"What? Me? Oh no, I would never. It just seems to me that Lord Megatron has been getting more erratic of late, don't you think?" Starscream said slyly. There was something in his field that made Soundwave keep an eye on him.

"Starscream: implying what?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking you're the telepath. Surely you'd be the one to tell if there's anything wrong with our esteemed leader."

"Megatron's mind: sound."

"Really? That almost comes as a bit of a surprise. You've seen him during the meetings, he spends more time shouting and rambling than he does coming up with decisive plans. He's been giving harsher punishments to the men for minor misdemeanours. His battle plans keep falling apart. The Autobots keep managing to slip through our fingers when we should have completely wiped them out by now. He's so desperate to obtain victory, that he's becoming more erratic and unhinged. If this continues he won't be fit to lead us. You must see that."

Soundwave simply stared at Starscream for the moment.

"Megatron: still fit to lead the Decepticons." he said.

Starscream looked around, checking the coast was clear before he leaned into Soundwave's audial.

"Are you sure? What if he ends up falling to corruption? It's entirely possible. No one seems to be immune, and it could certainly wouldn't be the first case of a high ranking officer falling prey to it."

Soundwave remained as impassive as ever. He simply stepped away from Starscream.

"Megatron: not under threat of becoming corrupted." He said with absolute certainty. Starscream scowled at him.

"If you're so sure." Starscream scowled at him, before he continued his stroll through the corridor. "Try not to let your judgement cloud your vision."

"Soundwave: never allows judgement to impair duty." He said.

"It happens to the best of us. I shall see you later, Soundwave."

And with that Starscream disappeared.

Soundwave wasn't angry or upset, never. He never allowed himself to show those emotions. But he did stand there and let his processor replay the conversation. He was entirely certain that Megatron was not compromised, and there was no way he could possibly fall to corruption. Megatron was entirely sound of mind and would lead them to victory. Soundwave could not believe that Mefatron would ever fall prey to this infection like so many other weak mechs had.

No, Soundwave would remain by Megatron's side, and see this was not going to happen. Soundwave's loyalty was to the Decepticon cause, and Megatron was the Decepticon cause.

 

The construction of the Ark continued, the Autobots all working every moment to get the ship ready. Grapple and Hoist oversaw the main bulk of the construction. It was almost finished, now were mostly waiting the imminent arrival of the other Autobots.

Optimus strolled across the gantry, watching the ships continuing progress. There was still apprehension in his spark, but it seemed soon this war would be behind them, everything would over. He wouldn't have to wake up to the sound of another one of his men having turned into a monster.

He was interupted in his thoughts as Jazz came over and joined him, leaning on the scaffolding and looking at the ship.

"Well, I guess this is it." Jazz said.

"Yes. I wish it hadn't come to this." he responded.

"I don't think any of us did. This war should have gone a lot differently." Jazz said, he looked over to Optimus and watched him for a moment before he spoke, "It's not your fault."

"It feels like it is." Optimus admitted.

"It's not your fault Megatron turned on us, that these creatures started appearing."

"I've let so many men down."

"You did what you could, and you kept us alive. This isn't defeat, this'll be the start of a new life, and you'll lead us there. We're all behind you Boss Bot."

"You always know the best things to say, Jazz."

The saboteur smiled.

"It's one of my specialities."

Optimus found himself smiling behind his mask. The two both stood together, watching the busy work all happening below them.

"You've never met Elita, have you?"

"Not frame to frame, no."

"I think you'd like her. She was always formidable, back when we worked on the docks there was no one who ever managed to beat her in a fight."

Jazz chuckled.

"She sounds pretty spectacular."

"At least with this, I'll get to see her again," Optimus whispered.

"You two bonded?"

"No, well, not really. I... I was too scared to ask her."

Jazz laughed again.

"Hard to imagine you scared of anything, boss bot."

Optimus gave a small laugh.

"That's because you haven't met her yet."

"Well, there's always time when she gets here."

"Yes, maybe now would be a good time to ask her."

They were both interrupted by a shout.

"It's Ravage!"

Optimus and Jazz spun round and saw the Cyber Cat above them, hiding amongst some of the scaffolding. Only given away by the red glow of his optics.

"Stop him!" Optimus shouted.

The Autobots started to shoot as Ravage scurried away. Jazz transformed and chased after him. Optimus waited behind as several Autobots raced off to stop the spy before he could disappear. But only a few breems later Jazz returned empty handed.

"Sorry Boss Bot," he said, "He got away."

"This mean the Decepticons will know about the Ark soon enough."

A twinge of worry shot through all the senior officers.

"What are we going to do?" Jazz said.

"Construction of the Ark is already going as fast as it possibly can," Prowl said. "I don't think we can leave any sooner."

"Not to mention all the other Autobots we're still waiting on."

Optimus thought, they had very few options.

"I will send a declaration to Megatron of our surrender. The Decepticons can claim victory of this war. Maybe they will let us leave if they know we don't intend to fight."

Jazz looked at him.

"You think Megatron will go for that, Boss Bot?"

Optimus thought of the person who had once so long ago been his comrade in arms. Someone he'd once fought alongside and called his dearest friend.

"I can only hope so," was all he could say.

 

Ravage returned to the Decepticon base and showed Megatron the footage he had managed to obtain.

Megatron viewed over the footage, along with his other generals. Starscream, Soundwave and Shockwave watched the footage silently, watching the ship being constructed. They all examined it, looking for any details they could gain.

"So this what the Autobots have been up to..." Megatron said. "Some sort of warship. Maybe they intend of one last stand against us."

He smiled.

"This can be it. We can strike against them and finally claim our final victory against them."

"I'm not so sure," Starscream said. He pointed his finger to the screen. "It doesn't look like a warship. There's not nearly enough armaments, and the design isn't right."

"But at least we now have the location of its construction." Megatron said. "We can start preparing our ambush."

"Something doesn't seem right to me." Starscream gazed at the screen thoughtfully.

Soundwave suddenly stood up.

"Incoming communication from Optimus Prime."

"Put it on screen." Megatron said, leaning back, and still thinking over this new turn of events.

A moment later Optimus's visage appeared on the screen in placement of the ship, and his deep voice spoke.

"This is a message to Megatron. This is the Autobots official declaration of defeat. We concede to the Decepticons as the victors of this war. Our intention is to leave Cybertron, and you can claim the entirety of this planet as being under Decepticon control. We are constructing a ship to leave this planet in, I'm sure you have already seen the footage. It is not a warship, we shall not attack you. Our only wish is to leave peacefully. If you allow us to leave we promise never to return to Cybertron. We will not organise a resistance, we shall not declare war again later. We merely wish to start a new life. Please, Megatron, simply allow us to leave and you can claim this planet for yourselves. That is all we ask. Optimus Prime out."

The screen turned off and the Decepticons were left in silence. Each of them taking in the words of the message before they all turned to Megatron, awaiting his response. The warlord didn't say anything, but there was a burning glow in his optics.

It was Starscream who broke the silence, because he always did.

"Well, Lord Megatron, what shall we do now?"

Megatron stood up.

"Optimus Prime wants to deprive us of our victory when it is so close. The Autobots want to leave us starving on this cursed planet. Well, I shall not allow that. We shall make a strike against the Autobots. We shall finally wipe them out once and for all. I won't let Optimus cheat us of this now we're so close. We'll ready our forces imediately."

"Yes Lord Megatron," all his generals said in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: The Decepticons attack
> 
> This will be the last chapter I'll post before the Christmas holiday. There may only be two chapters left of this part from here on, but I'll be busy with Christmas (and I'm sure everyone else will be), normal scheduling will resume as soon as possible.  
> Hope everyone has been enjoying this so far and I'm looking for to writing more exciting monster stuff in the new year.


	8. Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Autobots are ready to leave Cybertron behind, but it turns out the Decepticons won't make it that easy for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for the long hiatus. It's been a busy Christmas in my new job, but we're finally back with a new chapter. I've been doing a whole bunch of new corrupted TF designs on my tumblr so you can check all those out there https://overlordraax.tumblr.com/tagged/Corruption-AU
> 
> Also Elita's alt-mode is based on her Power of the Primes toy cos it's the one I have and I just think it's cool so that's what we're going with.
> 
> For now, enjoy the new chapter.

The Autobots waited and waited, still they heard nothing from the Decepticons. The only difference was the raids of their bases seemed to have let up. They could only assume this meant the Decepticons were indeed willing to let them leave, so they made their preparations. The Ark was finished. They merely had to wait for the other Autobot groups to arrive.

Optimus looked over the plans. Judging from what they had heard, both Elita's forces and Ultra Magnus's forces would arrive at the same time. There were several others scattered across Cybertron who regularly sent progress reports saying they were on their way, some claimed to have their own ships and would rendezvous with the Ark once they had taken off.

Most of the crew were already loaded up into stasis to save on resources. Wheeljack had been going over the plans with Grapple and Hoist to make sure he knew all the ins and outs of the ship before they had gone into stasis.

Magnus's troops were due to arrive next cycle and Elita's the cycle after that. They would be out of the Ark before the orn was up. Finally they would be safe.

 

The  next cycle came and they were still waiting for Magnus's troops to arrive. They kept watch but still heard nothing from them. Eventually the entire cycle passed and still there had been no sign of them.

Optimus went to visit Jazz in the communication tower. He had taken Blaster's place now the red bot had been put into stasis.

"Any word, Jazz?"

"Elita has just sent us a message saying they'll be arriving within the cycle. But as for Magnus, not a peep. I haven't heard anything all day."

"That's worrying. Magnus is usually quite punctual with his updates." In fact Magnus often got incredibly pedantic if people didn't send their updates and reports on time. "Something must have gone wrong. When was their last communication?"

A screen popped up in front of Jazz, he looked through the messages.

"Last one was sent two cycles ago. He called to say he had rendezvoused with the Wreckers and they were making their way to West Iacon Bridge."

"Then they should have reached here by now. Something must have happened. Send a scout team to go and search that area. We need to find out what happened."

"Gotcha Prime." Jazz got on the microphone, calling for a search unit. Optimus left, his hand reaching up to his spark. Something felt wrong.

 

Bumblebee and the other minibots sped off as fast as soon as they'd been given their orders. They headed through the abandoned roadways of Iacon, following the route Magnus should have taken. Bumblebee kept sending out location pings but was getting no response.

"Something's seriously wrong. We should have seen some sign of them by now." Bumblebee said.

They finally reached the bridge. They all stopped as they saw the thing had been collapsed. They could see the remains of several greyed out bodies.

"Oh Primus." Windcharger said.

"Quick, check for survivors." Bumblebee said. "Maybe someone's okay."

They quickly started going through the rubble trying to find someone who was still alive. There were gunshot wounds on all the bodies, what appeared to be melee damage on some. Bumblebee recognised some of them, but there was still no sign of Magnus or Kup themselves though.

"They must have been ambushed, and then attacked..."

"I told you! This proves it! Somebody sold out their location!" Cliffjumper shouted.

"Cliffjumper! I'm serious, SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!" Bumblebee shouted.

"What an interesting notion you have there, little Autobot." Bumblebee spun round as he heard a familiar grating voice. Starscream was standing in the busted remains of a building. His burning optics glowing as several other seekers also appeared from their hiding places amongst the ruins.

"Decepticons, wipe them out."

 

"Prime, we got Elita's forces approaching," Jazz said.

Optimus looked out of the window of the watchtower. He saw the convoy of different coloured cars and vehicles coming down the bridge. All seemed peaceful as they approached. Optimus spied the familiar bulky energon-pink jet that had flew ahead of them. Elita's colour scheme tended to frighten people off but it gave Optimus some relief to see it again.

Just as they were half way across the bridge it suddenly exploded. There was a boom and then the whole thing collapsed, burying half the forces with them. The ones who hadn't made it to the bridge yet scrambled to halt and then reverse. And then it seemed a flurry of lasers popped up as Decepticons sprung from various vantage places and began shooting at them.

Optimus watched in shock. This couldn't be happening.

Elita turned and headed back and started to shoot at the Decepticon forces that seemed to be rising out of nowhere.

It was Prowl's voice that shocked Optimus out of his stupor.

"Scramble all available troops! We need to rescue as many of Elita's forces as possible!" He shouted. "All Ark personnel, get the ship ready to launch as soon as we return. We need to be ready to leave as soon as we get back."

Prowl turned to Optimus.

"Sir?"

"Yes. Yes, Prowl. That was a good call. Everyone needs to be out there now!"

 

"Can't anyone get through to Prime?" Bumblebee shouted. The minibots were huddled behind some rubble, but every time they tried to send a message they were all meet only with static.

"Something's blocking the signals," Cliffjumper said, "this is some kind of trap."

As Cliff said that another set of seekers landed in front of them.

"We're surrounded!"

Bumblebee looked at the firing squad of seekers all pointing their weapons at them. This was it. He gasped and waited for them to fire.

There was a horrible inhuman screech and something descended on the seekers. A moving set of jagged metal shards suddenly attacked the seekers with its huge claws, tearing them apart. The corrupted monster bit into them, causing the Decepticons to scatter in panic. It was the opening they needed.

"Quick! Into the tunnels!" Bumblebee shouted. "We can still make it back if we go through them!"

The minibots all hastily transformed and headed down into the tunnels. Windcharger used his magnetism powers to crush the tunnel afterwards and make sure they couldn't be followed. Bumblebee tried contacting the Warren again, but had no luck.

"Primus, I hope the Bots are okay."

 

The Autobots quickly scrambled into action but it was quite clear that the Decepticons were ready for them. There were seekers flying about and shooting at their main entrance. Some Decepticons tanks also began a barrage on the base's walls.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were the first to start trying to clear the air of seekers. The two strapping on their jetpacks and leaping into the air. Ironhide started manning the heavy guns. But already the Decepticons had a pretty solid wall in front of them.

"Try and get through to Elita's forces! Get as many to safety as you can!"

Chaos erupted in the ensuing fight. The Autobots were already surrounded by the Decepticons surprise attack. None of them seemed to get anywhere near to Elita's forces. Optimus looked up to see the pink jet still soaring through the sky, doggedly fighting off the Decepticon forces at their heels.

A shot fired through her wing and Optimus paused as he saw her crash. Her jet fell and went down, falling down into the chasm of the Cybertronian ruins.

"No!" Optimus shouted.

 

The minibots made it back to back, only to be met with the sounds of more gunfire from outside. As they approached Ratchet turned to them.

"You made it back. Did you find any survivors?"

"No... they'd been ambushed. It looked like all of Ultra Magnus and Kup's forces had been wiped out." Bumblebee said.

Ratchet muttered something harsh under his breath.

"Ratchet, what do you want us to do?"

Ratchet's sharp gaze focused on them now.

"Get onto the ship as fast as possible. The Decepticon forces will be on our heels any moment and we need to get out of here now."

"What about the others?"

"Prime's leading them right now. Just get to safety. Come on."

 

No matter what the Decepticons kept pushing them back, it was clear they were losing ground, and now some of the seekers were trying to go for the Ark itself, yet they'd barely made it to any of the femmes at all.

"Prime! We can't hold the line much longer, we need to go!" Prowl said, grabbing his arm.

"No, we can't leave without the others!" Optimus shouted.

"We can't save any of them! If we don't leave soon there's not going to be any of us left."

"But-"

"THEY'RE GONE PRIME!" Prowl shouted, "All we can do is escape!"

Both Prowl and Jazz dragged him back through the door and the lock slammed shut. Even with the blast door closed, the heavy pound of artillery came.

"They'll break through any moment."

"Everyone get to your positions!" Jazz shouted, "We need to get ready to leave NOW!"

"The Cons planned this... They were waiting to ambush us..." Optimus said, fearing he had just led all his men into a trap.

Everyone headed over the ramp into the ship. Jazz then turned back to Optimus.

"Come on, let's go. It's all we can do."

The ship became a flurry of activity. Everyone hurrying to their assigned positions and desperate to get the ship running and online. The ship shook as it was still undergoing a barrage of Decepticon fine.

"Manning the turret," Ironhide shouted.

"Right behind you," Cliffjumper shouted.

"Who's here?" Ratchet said, "We need to take a headcount."

"Everyone take positions and strap in." Wheeljack shouted. They all took their seats and waited, some of them furiously typing on consoles. Jazz took the console next to Prowl.

"Ignition sequence started," Jazz said.

"Main systems online," Prowl said.

"Engines one and two online. Life support online."

"Secondary systems activated."

The ship shook again.

"Engines three and four online."

"Turret number two just got knocked offline."

Both of them grabbed a hold of the huge switches on the consoles, waiting in unison.

"Blast off in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

They both threw the switches and the ship started to take off. The ship began to shake and everyone's optics were glued to the viewscreen, which showed them slowly... slowly pushing into the sky before they finally breached Cybertron's orbit. They waited as the dead towering spires disappeared and were slowly replaced with the stars and the dark swallowing cosmos.

Everyone was staring in awe at the sight. A silence fell over the bridge as a surprised disbelief settled over them all. They waited for something, almost anything to break the illusion, and drag them back to reality. Surely the Decepticons would catch up with them and battle would start again. But it didn't.

"We made it." Bumblebee finally said, his voice still a bit shaky.

"We did. Despite everything," Jazz said.

There were a couple of nervous cheers. Optimus stood up to address everyone.

"Autobots, I thank you. You've shown amazing courage today. I know we have lost quite a few of us," he sighed before he carried on, "but we have a great task ahead of us. We need to rebuild our lives and create something good from the ashes of those we lost. We deserve to honour their memories that way. Till all are one."

"Till all our one." Several of them repeated the phrase in reverence, and a few solemn nods.

Optimus looked out into the endless darkness before them. There was no going back now.

 

Megatron seethed as he watched the Ark get away as it disappeared into the sky. A few space worthy seekers had doggedly pursued it as it launched, but they had been shot down by the ships turrets. Starscream had pursued the ship the furthest, having the most tenacity but Megatron could see the tiny light of his engines as he finally broke away from the pursuit.

Megatron had ordered the area checked for survivors, most of the Autobots had been wiped out in that attack. The rest it seemed had been buried in the rubble. It was the most decisive victory the Decepticons had made so far.

Yet without Prime defeated it did not feel like a true victory. He had wanted Primes head on the wall, and he'd still managed to escape.

The anger was practically bleeding out of him into his field, bubbling up in his tanks. He wanted to destroy everything in his path as recompense for his denied victory. He wanted to find any last remaining Autobot and tear them apart piece by piece. Until a hand placed on his shoulder and it was almost as the anger was leeched out of him.

He returned to some semblance of calm, his rational thoughts returning as the anger was leeched out of him by the touch. He returned to some semblance of calm, his rational thoughts returning as the anger drained out through the mere touch. He looked to see it was Soundwave who was standing behind him.

"Megatron: status report?"

"I'm fine, Soundwave." He looked up. The Autobot ship was far away in the distance. Only a tiny dot against the horizon now.

In the sky he saw Starscream returning. The tetrajet gracefully transformed and set down in front of him.

"Well. They made it out. What are your orders now Megatron?"

Even though they had escaped, Megatron still felt cheated, the experience was still incomplete. It would never feel complete until he had defeated Prime by his own hand.

"Prepare one of the Interceptor ships, and get together a crew of my most dangerous officers. Prime won't cheat me of this. We're going to board that ship and destroy it once and for all."

Starscream glared at him.

"Megatron, what's the point? We've won. We have the planet. There are no Autobot forces on Cybertron anymore. We can celebrate our ultimate victory right this moment. There's no poi-"

Megatron slapped Starscream across the face. The seeker fell backwards onto the ground. Everyone stood there stunned for a moment. Megatron had never hit one of his senior officers before.

"We are going to destroy them once and for all so our victory can be final. I'm not going to allow a single Autobot to survive today. Understand?"

Starscream sat up, nursing his jaw. He glared at Megatron.

"Now get moving Starscream. That's an order." Megatron said, walking away. They were going to destroy the Autobots once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: The final chapter of this segment as the Autobots find they are being pursued by the Decepticon ship.
> 
> (Also please do leave comments and kudos if you can, they are what keep me going)


	9. Temporary Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Autobots have made their escape from the plagued Cybertron, but the Decepticons aren't going to let them go this easily.

After a few hours the Autobots started to relax, finally celebrating their escape and feeling confident they actually had made it. Wheeljack had charted a course for a solar system he had found co-ordinates for in the archives. The system apparently had several potential planets that could be suitable for them to live on. So now that the course had been charted, it was a matter of waiting until the ship reached its destination.

Optimus greeted everyone and congratulated them on their escape and hard work. Putting on a brave face for them all.

He looked around at the bridge; there were three Captain's chairs, meant for the three main Autobot leaders, and the two to his side now stood empty. After a while Optimus got up and left the bridge, deciding to retire to his room.

Optimus stumbled over to the berth and sat down. He sat alone, quiet and despondent. It was over. They had escaped, and he felt entirely hollow. Inside Optimus just felt nothing. His thoughts couldn't stop thinking about the ones that hadn't been saved. So many of them had been turned into monsters, and whilst there were a few in the stasis pods in the hold, there were so many they had simply left behind, and now he had lost Elita and Magnus's troops as well.

The task of starting up a new world felt impossibly daunting, but for now he just wanted to be alone.

 

The Decepticons had readied the Victory as fast as possible. It took time to stock it and get the right crew together, but its engines were faster than the Ark's, despite the Autobot's head start they had nearly caught up to the ship in no time.

Megatron had taken his most elite officers with him, and also some of his most destructive soldiers. Ones that he felt most deserved to take part in the final battle. Only Shockwave had been left behind, and he was preparing the victory party for their imminent return.

Starscream had been mostly silent the whole journey. He had said almost nothing during the preparations and now mostly seemed to watch from the corner, his trine standing to attention by his side. Megatron was pleasantly surprised by the change, that slap had been more effective than he'd thought. He should have done this sort of thing earlier.

 

Starscream's gaze had not left Megatron since the Victory had set off. His face was mostly neutral but inside he was burning with anger towards Megatron. Starscream had been a loyal officer to  him since the beginning on the war. However, he had been paying close attention to Megatron's reactions these past few vorns. The growing obsession and erratic behaviour, the way he snapped at all of them for things going wrong even beyond their control.

He'd had the creeping suspicion that Megatron was falling prey to corruption but he had no proof. He had been sure Soundwave would have been able to confirm his suspicions, but apparently the communication officer was too sycophantic to admit there was a problem. So Starscream knew he was on his own. And now this.

Megatron had never hit him in all the eons they had been side by side. Even if Starscream had often seen it in Megatron's optics that he had clearly wanted to. Now he was leading them on this useless mission even though victory was already within their grasp.

The signs were obvious to Starscream but no one else could see it. Megatron was going to drag them all to ruin, and no one else was going to notice until their leader finally succumbed to the corruption lurking underneath his plating.

Starscream was the only one who could see it. He sat in his place, watching Megatron as he gave the orders to the rest of the rest. He'd have to stop Megatron before it was too late.

However... accidents always happened in battle. In a fire fight maybe no one would see when he shot their leader in the back. Anything could happen, really.

Megatron looked back to face him, and Starscream smiled. Oh yes, this would go perfectly.

 

Optimus had been lost in contemplation for a while when there was a knock at the door. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards the door. Underneath, he felt like never wanting to talk to anyone again, but out loud he said "Come in."

The door opened and Jazz approached.

"I came to see how you were doing, Prime," Jazz said. Optimus held in a sigh.

"I'm fine, Jazz," he said.

Jazz gave him a sceptical look.

"You sure?"

Optimus stood up.

"I'll be fine for now. I have to put on a brave face for the men."

"Yeah, but after what happened... and with Elita..."

"Jazz, I don't want to talk about it!" Optimus snapped. Jazz stepped back from him and Optimus tried to regain his composure.

"I'm sorry. I don't wish to discuss it now. Later. Once we're further away from here."

"You know what's best, Boss bot."

Optimus sighed.

"I'm sorry Jazz... I... This will be better once we reach the new planet."

Jazz solemnly nodded.

"They will be, Prime. We got you and we got the Matrix. Wheeljack says we'll be approaching the first possible planet soon even. It's got some good promise too. All the results say it might be quite a good place to stay at."

The ship shook. Optimus and Jazz looked at each other.

"Turbulence? Maybe from that meteor shower?" Jazz said.

"This doesn't feel like it." There was another rumble and they both knew. "It's laser fire. We need to get to the bridge."

"Gotcha."

They both raced there as  fast as they could. As they entered another blast shook the ship again.

"What's going on?" Optimus called.

"Decepticon ship just uncloaked off the port bow. We're manoeuvring but they're catching up."

"It's the Victory!" Someone exclaimed. Megatron's personal ship. He'd come here to destroy them all.

Optimus tried to take stock of the situation. The Ark hadn't been built with full on shields and weapons, only the basics from scraps they could spare. It was never intended for a proper battle. An Interceptor like the Victory would tear the Ark apart in moments. The barrage of fire would tear the ship in two.

So why hadn't it? What was Megatron waiting for?

There was another sound and a rumble, but it felt different this time.

"Report!" Optimus called, the authoritative determination gradually started to return to his voice.

"We're caught in a tractor beam."

"They've engaged a boarding ramp."

So that was it. Megatron wanted to draw this out for and do it all personally.

"Everyone! Prepare for battle!" Optimus shouted, everyone grabbing their weapons and heading to where the Decepticons had docked with the ship.

They headed down to the West corridor, taking up positions behind cargo crates and round corridors waiting for the Decepticons to come through.

The airlock door started to crackle as the Decepticons were cutting through the door. Everyone stood ready, watching as the line of ring of melting metal started form a circle. Everyone's circuits tensed as all they could do was wait for them to cut through.

"Hey, erm..." Bumblebee started, "If we don't make it out of this. It was... really good fighting alongside you guys."

"We're going to make it out of here," Jazz said. "I promise you that."

The moment the door opened the Autobots started to fire a flurry of lasers. Determined to stop any Decepticons from getting through. One of the conehead seekers got shot in the fire but they gradually started to push the Autobot back.

"Fall back and we'll activate the blast doors."

"Those won't hold them for long."

"At least it'll be something."

Just as Wheeljack went to push the blast door controls a blast hit him in the shoulder and he fell back. Before any could go to help Skywarp warped closer and began firing off and forcing them to retreat.

"Fall back to the bridge!" Optimus shouted. As they retreated more and more of them fell to the volley of gunfire. Several of them collapsing with smoking wounds in their frames. Some of the wounds were severe enough to trigger emergency stasis. This couldn't be happening.

"Keep moving forward!" Megatron shouted as he strode onto the bridge, blasting his cannon at Ironhide, who fell to the ground. "Destroy them all!"

"Megatron!" Optimus shouted, running forward and punching the Decepticon leader in the face. The two brawled and grappled, managing to grab hold of each others arms and lock in place.

"Megatron, why are you doing this? Why does this have to end in slaughter?"

Megatron didn't respond, there was an almost feral look in his optics. As he growled at Optimus his face started to twist and distort. Optimus gasped.

Then the alarms started to flash.

"What's happening?" Someone shouted.

"We're being pulled into the planets gravitational field!"

"Can't restart the engines! The console's been shot to pieces!"

"The ship's breaking up!"

"We're going to crash!"

"EVERYONE! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

And that was the last he heard before the crash shook all of them off their feet and darkness consumed them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End, for now.
> 
> A short chapter this time (and might take a short break), but when we return I promise all hell will immediately break lose. Someone will be corrupting almost immediately once they wake up on Earth. Who might it be??? Well, they are also on the list of Corrupted Transformers I've already designed (You can see the full list here: https://overlordraax.tumblr.com/post/180388676692/corrupted-transformer-designs-masterpost ) so do feel free to guess who it might be.


End file.
